Sunday 17 May: Our APCM will take place as part of a communion service at St John’s Church starting at 9.30am. This is our annual opportunity to come together as one parish to thank God for the life of our churches, and pray together for a year ahead. Do please put this date in your diary and support us by coming to the service.
The Parish Electoral Roll will be open for revision from Sunday 5 April to Sunday 19 April. Details of the current roll, together with application forms will be in churches from 5 April. If you are not on the roll and would like to join, please make sure that you complete and return a form during the revision period.
A Churchwarden is elected every year at the Annual Meeting of Parishioners. They are an Officer of the Bishop, and as such are accountable to the bishop, usually through the Archdeacon, for the fabric of the church building and its inventory. Primarily Churchwardens spend their time managing the fabric (buildings and land) of the parish and ensuring we remain compliant with the various legal frameworks affecting buildings, such as Health and Safety. They are charged with being the leaders of the laity in the parish, and to cooperate with the Rector in all matters of the parish. They automatically become members of the PCC for their year of office.
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has 9 members elected to it, three from each of our three churches. You are elected to serve on the PCC for 3 years, unless you are elected to fill a casual vacancy in which case you serve the remainder of the term you are elected to (two or one years). Others, including clergy, churchwardens and deanery synod members, make up the rest of the PCC. The PCC is called to co-operate with the incumbent in promoting the whole mission of the church in the parish – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. In this parish the management of our churches and other buildings is delegated to a number of sub-committees, leaving the PCC to have oversight of our vision, finances and policies. The PCC normally meets 5 or 6 times a year on a Wednesday evening at 7.30pm in Church House.
Reading Deanery Synod has lay members elected to it from every parish in the deanery. Our parish elects four people to serve on the synod for three years. The Synod is the governing body of our deanery, and tasked with coordinating ministry and mission between parishes and representing the needs and views of our parishes to the Diocese of Oxford. The Synod normally meets four times a year, on a weekday evening at 7.30pm.
Reports of previous APCMs can be found via the APCM archive.
There are no other services in the parish this morning.